Reply #45: I apologize for the misunderstanding. [View All]

[msmcghee]

I simply though it was apparent to everyone that Israel had attacked targets that were civilian in nature - and that the justification was that apartments, houses, roads, etc - were being used by Hizbullah in its fight with Israel. This has been well documented and attacking such targets is perfectly legal.

Further, if they were legal military targets (even though at other times they had civilian purposes) what difference does it make what ordinance was used against them - since that ordinance was not being directed at the civilians who may have been there at one time but were not now?

While each can kill people over a hundred yard radius, a 500 lb. bomb makes one big hole. A cluster bomb makes a lot of little holes. Each is more suitable for different targets.

A agree that cluster bombs have the unfortunate property of not all exploding on contact and that is regrettably dangerous for civilians when they return to the area. I doubt however, that Israel used that ordinance because they wanted to kill those civilians. I suspect the ordinance was selected as the best, possibly the only type, to reduce specific military targets.

Many innocent civilians die in wars. That's the main reason in my mind that people should not start them.